


There Isn't an 'Up' from Here

by BlueDarknessIceHeart



Series: Fire Starter//Ash Covered [1]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Blood and Injury, Blood and Torture, Developing Relationship, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sex, Kidnapping, Loss of Limbs, Love Confessions, Minor Character Death, Murder, Vesuvian courts and their nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-15 00:34:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13601775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDarknessIceHeart/pseuds/BlueDarknessIceHeart
Summary: No one really warns you that you can find an even faster track to hell by the age of 22, and it can absolutely come in gold if you're willing to suffer in so, so many ways.Aka: I wrote a lot of 'important bits' with Alia and Lucio for funsies to get a grip on her character, then did her timeline, and I amso sorry my girl.





	1. Meeting & Greeting

“Do you trust me?”

His head was swimming from the blow, or the blood loss, he couldn’t really tell - but the woman over him looked nearly angelic in a way - even with blood splattered across her face and concern in eyes that could have passed for pure black.

She’d have been impressed by the attempt at a cocky grin if he hadn’t looked nearly dead.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Healing came easy to her, even with the sound of metal clashing around her and a strangers blood smearing across her thighs. The weight of her body pinning his down, even as he jerked under her - the pain of skin stitching back together one she couldn’t soothe.  
-  
Lucio came back to full awareness to see the same woman that was above him earlier practically twirling circles around someone while his men watched.

In nothing but a short white dress, clearly ripped off around mid-thigh.  
  
His brow arched at the sudden shift of earth beneath the man’s feet that sent him sprawling forwards, giving the redheaded woman an opening. The cheers that went up as she ran the back of her hand across her face, swiping blood and the slight sheen of sweat off of her face, was enough to have Lucio’s curiosity piqued.  
  
He was a little impressed to find the missing part of her dress wrapped around his torso with only a few patches of red.  
-  
“So, can I finally get your name now that you’re not dying, or do you just want to be ‘mercenary’?” she cocked a brow, sitting down across from him.  
  
“It’s Lucio, and am I going to get yours,” His eyes were drawn to the blood still smeared across freckled thighs, “or do you just go by witch?”  
  
She shot him a smirk laced with something he couldn’t quite name, but he recognized it well enough. It was something dangerous to play with, if you weren’t smart.  
  
“Ohh, witch? I quite like it, _Lucio._ That’s a title, and one that can spark some fear in the right people - especially if you can back it up.” she watched him, the dark grey of her eyes as intriguing and off putting as the rest of her. The way she said his name, testing just how much she could put behind it before he reacted, having him leaning in more.  
  
She watched his own silver gaze, trailing up over her thighs and to her face. Studying, judging, trying to find something to sink into and use. The witch was interested, found him humoring at the least and his men entertaining.  
  
“That’s all your blood, since you can’t stop staring. You had a pretty nasty cut there, Lucio, should probably be more careful,” her laugh was light and sharp, and he found himself leaning back from her, “unless careful isn’t quite in your vocabulary?”  
  
“Oh, it’s there. I’m just not fond of it.” His grin matched hers, sharp and nearly predatory. Two hunters sharing a space and recognizing it.  
  
“So, am I ever going to be able to thank you properly?”  
  
It caught her off guard, and she arched a brow.  
  
“Alia. Unless you’d like to keep calling me witch, I do like the power behind it.” what had been a borderline predatory grin curled into a more charming smile, the threat draped in the same sweetness she seemed to be.  
  
Alia stood, and she could feel his eyes on her back even as she moved into the thick of his men.  
  
Lucio swore he heard the faint sound of a “you’re welcome” linger behind her.  
—  
Lucio hadn’t intended to _keep_ the witch with him, but something about her drew him in like a moth to a flame. She was incredibly smart, useful with her magic - for her healing or entertainment on slow days, and the way she carried herself like she simply belonged with his men wasn’t something he had expected.  
  
He could almost respect it, if she wasn’t so _challenging_. Most women they came across wanted one thing or another, but Alia kept her wishes relatively to herself unless necessary. She had an arrogance to her that most others didn’t, was always in pace with him and never needed to be caught up-  
  
Lucio ran a hand down his face, tossing the loosened belt from around his neck to the other side of his tent.  
  
The new addition to his mercenary band was going to give him a headache.  
-  
Alia hadn’t intended to find the cocky bastard she kept alive so interesting, but here she was, celebrating another job well done with drinks and stories, a part of a team in a way she hadn’t been before.  
  
She kept pace in almost all fronts, no matter who it was with, and she was sure it was driving Lucio up the wall. He was used to being untouchable, and having someone else equally as untouchable in his domain wasn’t something he was used to.  
  
It was comforting, in a way, to come across someone who could keep up with her, albeit with looser if not entirely absent morals, but the sentiment was the same. Alia watched him from across the table over the edge of her glass, and she knew the similarities in them were something he’d hate having to figure out.  
  
She hid her smile in her cup - ruining him on occasion during her stay wouldn’t be too bad.


	2. Bark & Bite

Everyone around them watched, listened, felt it happen. The steady gravitation of the two of them towards each other that lead to the two of them becoming a nasty pair on the battlefield. Lucio having a constant medic and Alia being taught much more efficient ways of using the daggers she was comfortable with, Lucio priding himself on how easily she took to a proper sword under his tutelage. 

Alia would deny any insinuation that she'd let him kiss her first, and Lucio put quick ends to any jabs at how well he listened to his new partner. 

"You know, Joan, he doesn't bitch quite as much with her." 

"That's because he's all bark, Tess. Alia? She's got bite." 

The two mercenaries looked up at the sound of someone being hit and Lucio cursing, Alia beaming as he rubbed the back of his head. 

"Example A."  
\---  
Lucio didn't make the decision lightly. It was made over two incredibly sleepless nights, with facts lurking behind whatever it was that happened when even her voice popped into his head. He didn't like not _knowing_ things, especially when it came to himself. 

Figuring out his own emotions was a battle in its own right, deciding what to do with the witch in his camp was an entire other one. The end result wasn't what he'd expected in the beginning, but it was a result that worked. 

Letting her in on the planning, on dealing with clients? It was absolutely not some gesture - Alia was simply outstandingly good at strategy, and even better at charming money out of people. 

That was all it was.   
-  
Alia took his offer with an ease he didn't expect, either. 

She didn't bat an eye on the outside, despite biting down against the uptick of her pulse in her throat. 

She didn't let herself finish the thought about spending time with him, or the flutter in her stomach about it, because she was absolutely not developing feelings. 

Not thinking about it didn't help stop the hammering of her heart against her ribcage.  
\---  
Lucio pulled stupid shit. This was something anyone with him learned in a handful of weeks, came to expect within a month, and didn't even turn to listen to past that. Being with Lucio and his men for a year should've made her relatively immune to him trying to take on four men at once, except for the unspoken thing between the two of them that had been going on for almost as long as she'd been around. 

People expected Alia to show up if they went down, it was her job to patch them up as quickly as possible - sometimes with worry to her face and other times with rolling eyes - but she never pulled for them like she did for Lucio over what should be relatively small things. There were no flames, no utterances of "you fucking _idiot_ , what have I _said_ " as she held them down to fix them up under brightly glowing hands. 

Lucio got that - his own witch turning men to ash at her feet to get to him.   
\---  
"Are we going to talk about this?" bringing it up felt like twisting a knife in an already too deep wound. Discussing the emotional aspect of either of them alone was a tricky task, volatile things they were, but as a unit? 

That seemed impossible, which was why they'd skirted it for months and stuck to clawed backs and fingerprint bruises on thighs as some sort of compensation.

"About what?" the annoyance to his tone was forced, a subject he didn't want to discuss.

She knew it. He knew it too. 

"Damnit, Lucio-" her annoyance, bordering anger, was very real, and punctuated with moving hands and the beginning of her pacing. He turned to face her and the expression on his face caught her off guard; she'd never seen someone look at her with that amount of care, and that much distress, in one go. 

Lucio's voice was soft, the quiet "'Lia" getting her to still entirely with dark grey eyes meeting silver. 

It was quiet for a moment, Lucio running a hand through his hair before reaching for her, Alia letting herself be tugged into his lap as he settled into a chair. Her head dropped onto his shoulder, voice muffled slightly by his shirt, "This isn't exactly an answer, Luce."

"I'm aware. But I feel like it's a decent substitute." 

Her sigh didn't comfort him in the slightest. 

"Alia-" 

"I just need to know if I'm wasting my time." the break to her voice was small and slight as she turned her head to be heard, but it was there. 

"I - no. No you're not wasting your time." 

Alia leaned back, the eye contact she made not wavering until she was satisfied with what she found. 

"I know we're both shit at handling ourselves emotions wise, or, well, you're worse than I am which is _horrific_ but-" 

"I am not _horrific_ at my emotions!" 

"Lucio you have put off displaying any emotional interest in me past a few gestures here and there because you don't know what to do with all of it." 

She watched him scramble for an answer, and her self satisfied smirk had her being sent backwards off of his lap.

"I take it all back, I never liked you or your pretty face!" Alia whined from the floor, not bothering to move as Lucio leaned over her. 

"Well we can't have that now can we?" 

Lucio offered a hand out to help her up, only to be pulled down towards her as she laughed.


	3. Blood & Blade

How anyone had managed to take her away from him was beyond anyone's imagination - but no one wanted to watch what was going to happen. Alia was capable on her own, but if Lucio had been magically inclined his rage would've been enough to raze their camp to the ground when he found her gone. 

Lucio hated feeling fear, the chill of it trying to choke him. He had thought _pleasant_ emotions were bad - this was far, far worse.

Alia hadn't been afraid to die until now; the cocky invulnerability of the young and powerful. The rabbit-pace heartbeat of something running from the inevitable. She thought she knew pain, had danced slow and close with blade edges and kissed too many flames in her short lifetime to not be able to brush off the breaking of skin. Being a healer allowed a certain freedom to stitch up every mistake she had ever made. 

It also created just another thing that made being carved into without the ability to fix herself, drained and grasping for anything to keep herself alive, an entirely different playing field. One where she was outnumbered to begin with, where there was no one else to tip the scales in her favour once her dagger was gone and her magic barely flickered at her fingertips. 

Finding her barely-conscious and bloodied was more than enough to send all of them into action. They had seen Lucio tear through people in fits of rage, or drag their deaths out as slowly as possible. What they hadn't seen was the quick work of getting people out of his way and getting their witch, _his_ witch, into his arms and out of the room as quickly as he could. 

He could feel the blood on her hands smearing across the back of his neck as she hooked them around his neck, shaking in his arms as he shouted over the rest of their group for a _fucking medic._

She hadn't planned on making any tremendous declarations at any point in time, but she'd buried her face into the crook of his neck and whispered "I love you" like a prayer. 

Alia wasn't expecting to hear it back as he pulled her closer to his chest, reaching up with one hand to wipe tears off her cheeks. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying, and he stopped her from swiping at her face. 

"I do find you very pretty with blood on your face, sweetheart, but only other people's. Not your own." 

She shot him a small smile, and the one that had graced his face moments before faded as her head dropped back against his arm, eyes slipping shut.

-

He watched the flames against the autumn sky to keep himself from pacing with worry, the only thing to draw his gaze away was the quiet "Luce?" from beside him. 

Her name was more of a relieved breath, and he was gently pushing her back down onto the bed roll before she could even fully lift herself up. 

Alia laughed, and the tension to his shoulders seemed to lessen. "Who died and made you doctor, huh?" 

"You did, sweetheart. You're not going to want to move for a while, they did a number on you."

She winced, pushing herself up into a sitting position despite his warning, "Yeah, yeah I can tell." 

It was quiet as her head pressed into against his shoulder, Lucio moving to be a prop for her. 

"I, ah. I meant it." He glanced down to see the blush high across her cheeks, eyes trailing to the bandages wrapped around her leg and her torso and the guilt that hit him somehow wasn't the weirdest thing he'd felt that day. 

He was careful, wrapping his arm around her. 

"Yeah, I did too." 

-

The scar that curled from her spine, down her side, and over her hip would never fade, and no house would be built over the ashes that Lucio had left in his wake.  
\---

"Lucio!" 

Alia was sprinting, ducking past fights and avoiding fallen bodies to get to the familiar head of blond hair she saw falling. 

_No no no_

She sent dirt and mud flying into the air as her knees hit the ground to slide to a halt next to him. She pulled his head up into her lap and looked him over, ignoring the sound of her own pulse in her ears and trying to keep her movements from being blatantly frantic.

"This feels familiar." 

"Lucio, love, shh." 

The wound was jagged and deeper than what she could feasibly mend - and it brought that tendril of fear back down her spine. 

A flick of her fingers sent a bright spark into the air, and the sound of familiar shouts came rushing towards her as she focused on at least dulling the pain, slowing the bleeding, anything to buy time. 

"Alright boys, on three. Ignore any complaints and be _quick._ "  
-  
Julian Devorak was one of the best medics on the field, and she knew that. 

Having him stare at her dumbfounded was not soothing her nerves in the slightest, however. 

"Look, I know you're capable, now _do something._ I know he's wily, but he doesn't bite unless you ask." Alia was trying desperately to keep her tone even, to keep the desperation and the panic out of her voice. To keep her hands from running through her undone hair or tearing into something.

Lucio was, indeed, throwing a fit. The ridiculous pain tolerance the man had made him an ungodly difficult patient for her half the time, let alone a stranger when she knew he was unnerved. 

Alia moved before Julian could, pulling Lucio's face towards hers with slightly shaking hands.

"Look, darling, calm down or I will personally knock you out." 

"Is that a threat or a promise, firecracker?" 

Alia pressed a kissed to his temple before pushing against his neck with her fingers, the soft glow enough to alert Lucio who rolled his eyes. 

"You're no fun, Lia."

"And you're being difficult, I'd like you to not die." 

"Well, at least we're on the same page." the scoff to his tone had her digging her fingers in harder. 

"Lay down." 

Julian was finally by her side and Lucio was flat on the table, pointedly ignoring the comments about how nice his face looked, two of the men she'd had bring him in still standing near the door. 

It was only a few moments before Lucio was docile enough for them to move forwards. 

"He'll still thrash, but he shouldn't bitch." She waved her men forwards, hovering by the exit of the tent. 

She was quiet with her tears, teeth buried in her knuckle until Julian was gently moving her hand away from her face. 

"I assume you're his...wife, of sorts?" Julian asked the question quietly, and Alia blinked. 

"If that's how you want to put it. It's been two or three years, might as well stick something to it if it makes it easier for you." she saw his eyes widen at re-melding of her skin under the glow of her magic.

"Ah, I see. You two are...quite the sight." 

She shook her head, finding a smile on her face in the end, "You don't even know the half of it, Devorak." 

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to catch me up - he's going to need time to recover after that." 

"Most of my time is going to be spent keeping him from throwing things at you once he sees he's missing a limb," she scrubbed at the dried tears on her cheeks, a grin cracking through everything else, "I hope you don't mind flirting -he's shameless." her light tone was almost out of place, but she needed the embarrassed splutter from the medic to break the dragging mood, if only for a brief moment, as she moved towards Lucio's side. 

Her grin had quickly slid into a much smaller, gentler smile as she sat next to Lucio, some nagging part of her unsure of anything still. She had to remind herself he was still breathing, she could see him bandaged up and his chest moving right across from her and Julian watched her, curious, as the witch dropped her head into her hand. 

Alia still didn't know how to process the flood of emotion she felt, fresh tears shining in her eyes and the laugh that trickled out of her was relieved, and still somehow broken. 

"Love is very, _very,_ messy Devorak. And apparently very trauma filled if you're me." 

She saw the concern, and almost welcomed it. 

"Do you, ah, want to talk about it?" she heard him sit down next to her. 

"Not in depth. But you don't really realize how much you care about someone until they might not be there." 

Alia lifted her head, and her smile was much sadder than the grin she'd had moments before. 

"Go get some sleep, Julian. I'll watch him." 

"Ah, yes - wait, you know-"

"I know a lot of things."


	4. Crimson & Gold

Alia's anger was something to be feared. People knew of Lucio's anger, knew he could swing to it on a dime, but Alia was the calmer one of the two of them, was calculated with even her cruelty.

Until she had some woman pinned to the wall by her neck, and even Lucio had an eyebrow lifted. The table fell quiet as they waited. 

"Tell me, girl, are you thirsty?" Alia spoke with an almost mocking tone as she reached for Lucio's glass.

"No, miss." 

Alia could feel the girl shaking, and she grinned. 

"Are you sure? Because I swear I saw you reach for my dear Lucio's cup." 

The murmurs that kicked up beside her had her baring her teeth behind dark red lips. 

Her fingers curled into the woman's hair, sharp nails catching on strands as she stepped back and pulled the stranger forwards. 

"Come now, take a sip! We're generous people." The purr to her voice had Lucio leaning forwards, chin resting in the palm of his hand. 

"I-I must insist-" 

"Why, good guests would never turn down such a gracious offer." Alia lifted the cup, giving it a gentle swirl as she uncurled fingers from the others woman's hair and trailed them along the side of her face. 

When she received no answer she clamped her fingers over woman's nostrils, and waited. 

Alia let her get one solid breath before tipping the wine into her mouth, dropping the glass to the table and clamping her hand over unpainted lips and meeting fear filled eyes. 

"Swallow the wine, girl." 

Alia held her there until her body sagged, and she let the woman drop with a thud against the wooden floor. 

She hadn't heard anyone at the table move, the shocked noise she made as Lucio pulled her to him muffled by the quick press of his lips to hers. His grin was wicked when he pulled away, tugging her back towards his chair with the whistles of their companions covering the drag of the body out the door.  
\---  
"Who could have known having your own personal witch would gain you a palace, hmm?" 

Alia laughed, a light thing as he pressed kisses down her torso. 

"You did your fair share, _Count_ Lucio." 

She watched him lift his head, his hair down and wild around his face, smudges of lipstick across his skin.

"Oh it does sound _much_ better when you say it." 

"You've had the title for a day and you'd have me screaming it for the entirety of Vesuvia to hear." she ran her fingers through the blond strands as he moved back up her body, the glint to his eyes pulling a smile across her lips. 

"That, my dear firecracker, sounds like a challenge."  
-  
Things were doing well for them, the new Count of Vesuvia and his loyal Witch. Years and years beside each other got them to this, and it wouldn't change. 

Alia was hiding her vicious grin behind her hand as Lucio tore into some would-be Courtier for having the gall to make some joke at her expense, the Count eventually dismissing his new headache to pull her to him. 

She kissed him until they had to part, the bright crimson of her lipstick staining his own lips and she peppered more kisses down his neck, the smudged makeup bright against his skin. 

Lucio pulled her away, his chuckle met with her soft smile. 

"I don't understand how they don't get it yet - is it the similar outfits, the shared bed, the fact I showed up with you, or literally anything else about us that doesn't give it away that we've been a couple for longer than they've had their eyes on the courts?" her voice was low, meant solely for the two of them, yet her annoyance still lanced it with a fierceness meant for those being spoken down to. 

"I'll let you know if they ever actually _do_ catch on - they seem entirely incapable of doing anything. Maybe you can teach some of them a thing or two. Like how to play dead, perhaps." Lucio's voice was muffled in her hair, but her laughter was unstifled - bright and warm. 

Alia curved to press another kiss to his cheek, the quiet "I love you" returned just as easily as the kiss pressed to her temple before she stood, sweeping open the door and offering a sweet smile to the nobles the filed into the room.


End file.
